User blog:TheOneCalledNat/The Human Side
The Human Side & Dignity of Gay Marriage “The thing about gay marriage is simply that it’s not gay. It’s marriage. If you are uncomfortable with marriage, you cannot outlaw marriage. And, shocking, even if homosexuality makes someone uncomfortable, one cannot outlaw identifying as or practicing homosexuality. So seeing as both homosexuality and marriage are legal, their being combined should be no big deal” (Marrero). There is ongoing debate here in our country about whether or not gay marriage should be legal. We hear about the many different issues on this: the religious viewpoint, the right to individual personal freedoms, the effects on the family, civil rights, and the standards of morality in our society. However, what everyone is forgetting in the fight over this issue is the humanity behind it. We are dealing with real human beings made of flesh and blood and not just sound bites that are given on the evening news. We are talking about people who are in loving caring relationships, sometimes for many decades, and all they want is the same respect and dignity that is given to every other straight person or couple. Personally, I support gay marriage, and what I want to say is that all people regardless of who they are deserve the same respect as everyone else. That is the golden rule, isn’t it? “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you!” A couple of questions swirl around in my head. First, do we live in a society where we treat some people as second class citizens as we did in the 19th century before the civil rights movement, or do we believe in equality for all? Second, are we the greatest country in the world that promotes individual freedom, choice, and personal rights, or not? When Proposition 8 was being debated across California back in 2008, many families were divided and tormented by this issue. Different forms of prejudices and hatreds were spilled out against many gay couples including those with children. Here were some of the things that happened against them and their families. 1. A lady was in her vehicle which had a no on prop. 8 sticker on it. She was stopped at a red light when four young men approached her vehicle and started yelling at her. She was called a vulgar name, and one of the men threatened to follow her home and kill her. She had to be escorted home by the police (marriage equality page 3). 2. During a no on prop. 8 rally in San Diego; a man with four young boys in his car drove by several times and shouted several racial slurs at the group. He had the young boys flip the group off with their middle fingers each time (marriage equality page 3). 3. A teacher in San Bernardino County did an article with a local newspaper about her marriage. Afterwards, her local employer received several threats including against the children from her classroom. The teacher had to be suspended with pay during the threats, her home was vandalized with anti-gay slurs and slogans, and the couple’s car was ruined when someone put sugar in the gas tank (marriage equality page 3). 4. At a school in San Luis Obispo, a noose with a Confederate flag was found. A note was pinned to the items and stated that blacks, queers, or hippies were not welcome (marriage equality page 8). There are many other examples where neighbors against turned their fellow neighbors, and families turned against one another. We are living in the 21st century, but many members of society have regressed back to darker days. In 2004, 15.6 percent of hate crimes reported by the FBI was against the gay community. This statistic has increased every year with the year 2011 reporting the most; 20.4 percent with 1,572 hate crimes being reported, and 30 individuals being murdered (Wikipedia). How many more crimes went unreported during this time? The trend of violence against the gay community continues to rend higher. My question to this is why? Why is this happening? Even if you are against gay marriage for religious or personal reasons; do you think people deserve this treatment? How would you like it if a member of your family was treated harshly or violently because they were considered different by society? Would you want your mom, dad, brother or sister, or grandparent to be harassed, beaten up, or worse? Would you want to be treated in such a way? I believe the answer would be no, and therefore, I return back to the meaning of the golden rule. Everybody deserves the respect of their fellow man or woman. Like I stated earlier, I personally support gay marriage, and you may disagree with my stance, but we need to learn to disagree with mutual respect and dignity. Category:Blog posts